12 Amazing Tech Predictions for the Next Decade

Are you prepared for the day that an artificial intelligence (AI) machine will sit on your employer's corporate board? Or for driverless cars to go mainstream? Or for cities to run without traffic lights? Or for humans to function on 3D-printed body organs? If you're not ready, you will have a few years—but just a few—to prepare for the amazing predictions published in a recent report from the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software and Society. The report, "Deep Shift: 21 Ways Software Will Transform Global Society," included predictions from a survey of top leaders and influencers in the IT sector. We're highlighting selected predictions here, covering everything from Internet connectivity to the Internet of things (IoT), data storage and wearable technology. "These changes will impact people around the world," according to a preface in the report from BSA|The Software Alliance President and CEO Victoria Espinel, who is also chair of the World Economic Forum council that produced the report. "Inventions previously seen only in science fiction—such as artificial intelligence, connected devices and 3D printing—will enable us to connect and invent in ways we never have before. Businesses will automate complicated tasks, reduce production costs and reach new markets. Continued growth in Internet access will further accelerate change. In Sub-Saharan Africa and other underdeveloped regions, connectivity has the potential to redefine global trade, lift people out of poverty and topple political regimes. And, for many of us, seemingly simple software innovations will transform our daily routines." More than 800 information and communications technology sector executives and experts took part in the research.